London 2012

On Thursday we visited London.  But there was no time to write a blog when we got home, shattered, having walked from Highbury-Islington to Victoria Station.  

Since then I have since watched the Opening Ceremony .  A ceremony that captured the heart of Great Britain.   All very low key, but very clever and portrayed the country brilliantly.    It may not have meant much to some countries, unfortunately, but subtlety was the order of the day, and therefore very British.    Even the portrayal of Great Ormond Hospital and the NHS, which may have been a bit over the top for people here, captured an aspect of the country which many other Nations envy.   Where else in the world can one get free medical care, of such high quality..   In future please watch what you say about the NHS, Mr Cameron.

But back to Thursday, the day that Walter and I decided to go into London and have a look at the crowds, see the torch being carried, and capture some of the atmosphere.    

First we caught a train from St Mary's Cray, after 9.30 a.m., with free parking, down the bottom of the hill.   As pensioners we need to watch our pennies.   We carried our packed lunch in our free National Trust cooler bag.    

And the train we caught went further than Blackfriars, once the end stop for all trains.    We were able to go as far as St Pancras.  And this gave us a chance to have a look at the beautiful station, which has been renovated and enlarged into the glorious building that it is today.    The torch had actually passed through here a few hours earlier. but the station was still buzzing, mostly with people leaving London.   I wonder why?

Then onto Highbury-Islington via the tube.    The station has had a small makeover, badly needed, but still fairly grimy.  Highbury Corner, once so well known to us, due to Donna working for Islington Council, and Aaron and Kylie living in Islington, has not changed at all.

We found Upper Street, no problems there, and walked along it, to meet Donna at Islington Town Hall.    A very posh looking establishment from the front, but a maze of tunnels and small rooms once inside the building.  The torch had also been there early in the morning.    Donna had acted as senior steward at Roseberry Avenue, too early for us.    She told us all about it though.   Very exciting.

Upper Street, still a relatively quiet street, due to the congestion charges further up the street.    Memories, memories, memories of visiting cafes and restaurants along this street. At a time when we could drive into Islington easily, through the rougher areas of Hackney of course, and park in Upper Street. The photograph below, of Upper Street, almost reminds me of the setting for a country town, with its little boutique shops and shady trees.    And little traffic.

After a lovely packed lunch, eaten in a shady park, with Donna, we continued along Upper Street, intending to catch the tube from The Angel to Charing Cross.   But at this point we were carried away by the scenery, the idea of re-discovering parts of London we had not visited for a long time, and the beautiful weather.   So after a cup of strong coffee we set forth, as tourists, to re-discover this part of London.    The object of the visit, to see the torch, was quite forgotten at this point.   Even the red London bus doing pressups did not deter us from our new objective, to walk to Trafalgar Square.

So on we walked, always keeping to the shady side of the streets, it being a hot day, down Upper Street, then into Roseberry Avenue, passing all the outdoor eateries and hundreds of office workers enjoying their lunch break.    So far removed from the current economic problems, but then these people all have jobs.  They all looked successful and happy too. We crossed over Farringdon Road.    More memories of driving around this part of town to visit Aaron and Kylie when they lived in Camden.   So easy then to drive around London, 16 years ago.

Suddenly we spotted Gray's Inn Gardens, open from 12 until 2.30 p.m. for the office workers to enjoy their lunch in the sunshine, or in the rain, which is most often the case.   So in we went.

And we were transported back in time, in our imagination, that is.    The setting, the reign of Henry VIII.   The lawyer, Master Shardlake, with an affliction (bent back), who lived and worked around Gray's Inn,  solving rather horrific crimes.   He also rode his trusty horse in Chancery lane and visited and investigated not such honest people in Lincoln's Inn.   Fiction of course.    At this point in time, I cannot remember the name of the books or the author.    My apologies.      

Of course the next place to visit was Lincoln's Inn, open as well during lunchtimes.

Such historic buildings.    Such impressive names, written on the brass plates inside each door.

And we were free to roam around the buildings and sit in the gardens.   Such luxury.

The chapel, which was also open, built in the 1600's to replace the old chapel which was too small, still conforms to certain rules and regulations, about who sits where.

The undercroft of the chapel.   Impressive.

And finally we passed by the Royal Courts of Justice,

and found a bench to sit on, in the shade.  

The Temple Church, photographed below, was built by the Knights Templar, the soldier-monks who protected pilgrims to the Holy Land during the Crusades.    This church was modelled on the circular church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the site of Christ's death, burial and resurrection.    In 1608 King James 1 granted the whole area of 'The Temple' to the two societies of lawyers, who maintain the church today.

Finally we reached the embankment, and what a tremendous view of Big Ben, Parliament House and the London Eye.   But what is also there?  A new addition!  Some awful looking whizzy ride on the left side of the London Eye.    And of course the Thames River in front.    This view always makes me draw my breathe in, yes I really am in London, and I am standing on the banks of the Thames River.  

Whilst walking through the street beside Charing Cross Station, we saw people with ice creams in their hands.  Where did they get those from?    McDonalds of course.    No history here, but air conditioning and cheap flavoured soft serves.   £1 each.   Good value.   Full of additives I know but on a hot day, after a long walk, they tasted like nectar.

Finally we arrived at Trafalgar Square.    The torch was due to go through here at 5.40 p.m. and it was only 3.30 p.m.   We tried to stand in the sunshine, but it was just too hot.   Should we go home?   No, not an option at this point. A life saver.   The art gallery.   Just in front of us. We have not been there for years.    So off we went for two hours of cultural enhancement, and we were impressed, certainly the collection of paintings we saw were as good as, if not better, than the similar collection in the Louvre, Paris.   The building was also airconditioned, and had comfortable chairs, from which to view the paintings.  And have a little snooze.

Of course I posed in front of the count down clock to the opening of the Olympics, together with the man on the left.  I hoped he liked me being in his picture.

The crowds had multiplied by the time we came out of the art gallery, so my view of the torch and bearer as he came down the steps in front of the art gallery was very limited.  I had a great view of all the cameras though.   But the atmosphere was electric.

So we decided to walk to Victoria Station, via Whitehall, Parliament Square and Victoria Street.   But forgot that was the way the torch bearers were also heading.    So we joined the throngs of people and the cyclists and followed behind, not knowing really what was going on.   But that was okay, as long as we watched out for the cyclists, who seemed to be intent on knocking people over.  We did see William Hague, the Foreign Minister, looking out over one of the balconies in the Foreign Office.   I hoped he enjoyed it all.

The police, and the armed forces, were there to keep us all safe, mainly from the cyclists I think.

Parliament Square.   We, and most other people, were in a state of confusion by this stage.   The cyclists in the photograph below just wanted to get home, so argued with the police.  The cyclists were trying to cycle the wrong way down a one way street, the police were having none of that.

And a sprint across the lawn in front of Parliament House, followed by a scramble over to a wall, meant we finally had a fantastic view of the torch bearers, right at the 'Kissing Point', the change over of torch bearers.   In this case it was given by a grey haired, bearded man to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.   

Cheers and more cameras.  

So home we went, very happy.     A full and very interesting day.